The Perfect Day

Remember how I said I needed a vacation in the worst way in my last post?  What I meant to say was I needed a vacation -- but I didn't need any of the work that goes into getting ready for a vacation -- in the worst way. 

And that's just what we got yesterday.

We went to the beach with our closest friends (missed you Nicki! You totally missed out!!!!!)  And seriously, it was just what the doctor ordered.  In fact, I just talked to another friend on the phone who saw me last on Friday and she said, "You sound sooooo much better today!  What happened?"  This particular coastal location is very healing for me, apparently.  Every time I go there I come home happier and more capable of facing the world.

Yesterday was no exception. 

I have a bum foot and G did 99.9% of the work, so I literally just sat around and enjoyed good conversation with my friends, ate chips, and watched the kids playing so happily.  We kept saying how much fun it was to let the kids play with very few restrictions.  They played with true abandon for hours without once being told to "calm down" or "be quiet" or "please share."  It was fantastic!  Plus the weather couldn't have been better.  It was not only sunny, but warm enough that the kids were all sweaty in their swimsuits.  We ate hotdogs and roasted smores.  The kids ran up and down the sand dune, caught crabs, threw sand, and enjoyed playing together.

I wish I could look forward to "next time," but our life of the party is moving in 2 weeks, so rather than dwell on that horrific fact, I'll just focus on how awesome the good times have been.  Thanks Shauna for making everything fun.  Love you!!!!!!

Reno

It's really strange to think we just got home from vacation just over a week ago because I need another vacation in the WORST of ways.  Luckily I got my windows cleaned by a professional yesterday and if it weren't for bright clean windows... well, let's not go there.

Let's focus on the awesomeness of our visit to Reno instead.

We went to Hot August Nights.  G went every night, but I could only manage once.  I just don't have the stamina for car after car after car but the men of the house sure enjoyed it! Sambo said "Whoah!  Tar!  (Car!)" every time he saw a different car, which was about every .5 seconds.  Good thing he likes classic cars because we're painting his room silver with a black racing stripe soon. (G's inspiration came from a Camaro a few months ago.)  Buddy most liked the Grim Reaper car because he's still really into monsters.  He is really good to identify the different Camaros, Corvettes, and Mustangs.  He liked walking around best, but Sambo loved watching the cars cruise by. 

We took a leisurely float down the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe.  It was heavenly.  It was very relaxing and was fun to enjoy the sunshine and the drunken fools all over the river.  Our kids were pretty much the only kids on the river, so we got immunity from all the water fights between friends and strangers alike as we floated down the river.  Buddy loved the river, especially the time we hit a few rapids and he fell out and had to cling to a bridge we were passing under.  Too bad we didn't get a picture of that because it was hilarious.  He loves to be scared, so this was the highlight of his entire vacation and he still is talking about it.  Sambo was a bit tentative in the raft, but seemed to like it by the end.  And now every time he sees a river he says, "River!  Me boat!" so apparently it left a good impression.

Buddy caught and loved on a lizard in grandma and grandpa's yard.  Both boys were totally in love with that thing and begged and pleaded to let them bring it back home to Oregon.  We felt so bad for the poor lizard because the kids manhandled it constantly.  Finally we had to let him go back to his family, much to the huge disappointment of Buddy.  Yes, tears were shed.  Many tears.

This is what I mean by manhandled.

And this is what I mean by loved.  He is petting the darn thing.  Check out the look of love on his face!

We also went swimming in the Truckee River in downtown Reno.  The city has created a fantastic place to kayak, swim, and tube, right in the middle of town.

They just got done floating down some rapids. 

We shopped while the kids played in the fountains at the mall.

And then the very best part.  We stumbled upon a Grimaldi's.  The ridiculously good pizza that we waited in line for 90 minutes in Brooklyn.  They've apparently opened up 4 other restaurants around the country and lucky for us, Sparks, Nevada has one.  We about died because the food was fantastic, plus we didn't have to stand in line for it!

We also went to the railroad and checked out some trains.  Sambo loves choo-choos, so it was pretty exciting for him.  We've been trying to bribe him with a choo-choo ride if he learns to go poop on the toilet, so of course, the entire way home he was really proud of himself thinking he had fooled us.  Because no, he yet to poop in the toilet since the last time I bribed him.

Not pictured are the other amazing meals.  One of these days we'll have to get a picture of us at the Atlantis buffet.  We go every time we're in Reno and this is no ordinary buffet, I tell you what.  We also enjoyed lots of relaxation and time to read.  The kids rode their scooters and terrorized grandma and grandpa. And then we returned home 400 pounds each!  That's what I call a successful vacation!

The Birds and the Bees and the Amphibians

We just rolled into town from a wonderful trip to Reno.  More on that later.

While in Reno, Buddy watched a few episodes of the new Life series.  During one of the episodes on amphibians he asked if the bullfrogs and water snakes were "mating" or fighting.  G stiffled a laugh, and said he wasn't sure.

Later, once I had been notified that he used the term "mating," I decided to broach the subject -- and asked him if he knew what that meant.

Buddy:  I'm not sure, but it means they love.

G:  What's the point of mating?

Buddy:  I'm not sure, but after they love, then they fight.




Wise beyond his years, I tell you.

Same Spot, Similar Pose, 13 Years Later, and Add 50 Pounds

One of the most exciting parts of our trip to New York back in May was locating a special spot in Central Park.  When we first visited NYC together 13 years ago, we posed in Central Park for a picture.  Although we were barely "dating" then, it became a symbol of our friendship and our falling in love, and we ended up using it as our engagement photo. We were excited to find the spot easily during our most recent visit.

We haven't changed a bit, have we?

1997

2010

Why Can't You Just Let Life Go?

Shortly after we moved into our house last spring G had to remove a nest from our front porch.  We moved it because on two different ocassions while living in an apartment, a bird built a nest by our front door with lethal results.  So we no longer allow nests near our front door.  Not to mention, I don't like animals that close to me, plain and simple.

However, it should be common knowledge by now that Buddy is a naturalist.  Now a year and a half later he still hasn't gotten over the nest removal.  The other day we were leaving our house and Buddy saw a bird by our front door.  "Do you remember that time dad moved the nest from our porch?  Why can't you just let life go?" he said, exasperated.

He later confessed that one of his grandma's told him to tell me that.  But he can't remember which one.

If only he knew how many ways that simple question applies to my life.

 * * *

Independence is a talent/curse that both of my children have been born with and so I try to encourage them to use those skills to handle all sorts of scenarios in their little lives. And most of the time they manage just fine without me intervening. 

I was in the shower on Friday when Buddy came tearing in.  He is extremely modest, so the fact that he entered the bathroom at all knowing I wasn't dressed meant there was an emergency.

"Sambo is chasing me with obsidian and he's going to throw it at me!!!!!!!  I am NOT handling this, so you are going to have to handle it naked."

Maybe this isn't funny to anyone but me.  But I still haven't stopped laughing at that one.

Summertime

Watching a hawk eat a snake in the field

We are thoroughly enjoying summer around here.  Parks.  Parades.  Swimming.  Playing outside.  Berries.  No school.  Fewer peer influences.  No schedule.  Late nights.  Daddy's softball.  A babysitter for Sambo (his brother).  Books.  It's all been fantastic.  I have a pit in my stomach thinking about "back to school," so I just don't think about it too much.  I just don't get people talking about summer boredom.  I've got a list of things I want to do this summer and I've barely scratched the surface.  If you fall into that "bored" category, give me a ring because we should definitely hang out!  If homeschool could be a good idea for Buddy I'd seriously consider it because I love this lifestyle so much better than the grind of the school year. 

I blog about berries every year, but wowsers, we've pounded a lot of berries already this year.  Tonight I made wholewheat waffles with a few chocolate chips (thanks Tahsha for turning us onto that idea) and some fresh raspberries and marion berries on top.  I just don't get how something so simple and healthy could taste so right.  We had watermelon on the side and will have raspberry pie later after it cools a bit.  Tell me please, what could be better?!

The Miracle of the Serpents

Preface:  This isn't a Bible story but it is miraculous nonetheless.  And I'm not including pictures because I don't want to see snakes anytime I look at my blog.

The Miracle:  I caught the most horrific stomach flu earlier this week. By Tuesday morning I was literally asking G to call the coroner to dertmine the cause of my death.  I had no ability to care for my chidlren, so after G got them dressed, fed them, then made them a lunch for later, he sent them outside to play in our fully fenced yard (not that that stops them half the time...).  He headed for work (I told him he could.)  One thing you probably know about my boys is they love playing outside and will happily play outdoors for hours.  I'd figure they'd open the sliding glass door if they need a drink or to tell me something, but I knew they'd be out there for awhile.  I knew I'd be safe to doze my stomach cramps away.  Two hours later I woke up and jumped from the couch to discover I had been asleep for two solid hours and neither of them had opened the door to ask me anything.  I quickly checked to make sure they were both still with us, and there they were happily playing on the grass with two snakes.

I shielded my eyes, asked Buddy to come to the door to talk to me.  He told me that moments after daddy put them outside they found TWO snakes sitting on the grass and they had been playing with them ever since.

Now, in case you don't know me very well, I am PETRIFIED of snakes.  I can't even look at a picture of a snake without getting scared.  We had a real snake problem at our last house and I'm not joking around, I actually prayed several times that God would remove them from my yard.  I also did a google search once looking for snake repellent, but saw one too many pictures of snakes on my computer and had to stop searching.  This current house backs up to the same wildlife refuge that our last house did and also backs to a field, but we don't have nearly the snake problem here, thank goodness.  Buddy catches them in the field or in the blackberry bushes around the area, but I have only seen one in our yard in the 1.5 years we've lived here.  Thank goodness. 

So to discover my boys were playing with snakes in my yard ordinarily would put me into a full-blown panic attack.  Except this was no ordinary day.  Snakes make my boys really happy and I was on death's doorstep and was unable to care for them.  It only took a moment for me to realize that God sent two snakes (two-so they wouldn't fight) to babysit my boys so I could sleep.  A miracle indeed.

After that realization, I ran to the bathroom.

Postlogue:  One snake has escaped, and the other is hanging onto dear life in a rubbermaid bin on our back patio (the same rubbermaid bin that houses all of the "pets" that come and go from our care:  12,000 mosquito larvae, slugs, frogs, and 300 salamanders to name a few this summer.)  I have yet to look at the snake and it scares me silly that it'll somehow find it's way into our house.  But, that snake got me through a rough day and I have to have a little gratitude.  Plus, Buddy cries every time I try to encourage him to set it free.  He's always wanted a pet snake, you know.